SKINCARE FIRST!
I know i am kind of backwards and this topic should have been my first but the MAC question had to be handled first. Now, I can't stress it enough how important it is to have a a healthy skin care regime before you even think about wearing makeup! Being a licensed Esthetician for the last seven years as well as an adult acne sufferer, I of all people know the importance of well prepped skin before makeup. I don't care if you have normal, dry, sensitive, combo or oily skin you must have a daily ritual of pampering your skin at least twice a day. Here are the minimum steps that you should be following with a skin care product best suited for your skin:
1. Cleanse
2. Exfoliation
3. Tone
4. Moisturize
Every person from every skin category can follow these steps, you just have to know what type of skin you fall into. I will list the types of skin and their symptoms:
Dry- excessive flaking, burning and tightness even after using creams, lotions ect. Fine lines tend to show up more prominent and earlier on this skin.
Sensitive- Adverse reactions to most cosmetics, fragrances, dyes and common ingredients found in your general cleanser moisturizer ect. Prone to dermatitis (topical skin irritation) and or acne breakouts
Normal- all the rest of us are jealous of you because you have few issues and usually have zero allergies to anything. You don't have a problem with breakouts and normally don't need makeup to look flawless (grrrrrrrr!) but you still need to take good care of your blessed skin with a solid regime, you can virtually pick from any of the suggested products below to take care of your skin just be consistent with it and DO NOT NEGLECT your Spf!
Combination Skin- Dry and oily areas are present and may have sensitivities to some products or ingredients. You may or may not be prone to breakouts.
Oily- Excessive production of oil especially in the T-zone, skin tends to have a greasy feeling very quickly after washing or application of makeup. Oily skins are usually fans of blotting papers, mattifying makeup and blotting powders. Oily skins also breakout more often as well as have more visible blackheads. The upside to this type of skin is that you age beautifully! Fine lines and wrinkles are hardly visible at all even into the 30's-40's. :)
Everyone falls under at least one of these categories, once you decide which one best suits you then you will have to find a good line of products to use in your new found skin care regime. Here is a suggested list of the types of products for each type of skin:
Dry- Cream cleansers, Foamy frothy cleansers with ingredients such as honey, aloe, jojoba oil, essential oils such as almond, flaxseed, sesame seed oils, Alcohol-free toners (also known as astringents, tonics ect.) Exfoliation (scrubs) should be done no more than 3 times a week unless they are very gentle exfoliators like a lactic acid (milk acid) or scrubs made from oats or grains. Toners should be alcohol free, infused with things like seaweed, algae, olive oil, witch hazel and so on. Finally, moisturizers, these should contain an SPF of 20 or higher and have titles such as Daycream, hydra-moisture and preferrably contain more essential oils than synthetic. Essential oils are oils from a plant, fruit or vegetable. Eye creams should also be used religiously on dry skins as your skin will age faster than anyone else! Don't be shy about getting on the anti-aging train early!
Sensitive- your products should be similar to dry skin's but you may need to go the vegan or organic route due to your skins hyper-sensitivity. The less chemicals listed on the back of your product the better. There is one line that I highly recommend and it is Dr. Weil's line for Origins. He uses mega mushroom that calms inflammation, a condition that will aggravate even the smallest skin allergy and or problem. You need a high level SPF as well, 20 or higher but if you are allergic to actual sunscreen then there is titanium dioxide, a natural sunblock being used widely in alot of mineral makeup and moisturizers. Sensitive skins can do really well with homemade skin products, such as scrubs made with real sugar, honey, plain yogurt, naturally astringent fruits like rasberries, blueberries and grapes. You can make soothing masks out of raw oats, honey, avocados, strawberries, yogurt with spritzes of lemon or orange for toning purposes. I tend to favor Origins because of their selection, they even have a 95% organic line you might want to try but there are hundreds of vegan and organic lines available. You can find alot of them at Vitamins and holistic stores. A good drugstore pick is Cetaphil cleansers, under $10 and as gentle as can be for that price.
Normal- Your skin is relatively easy to care for, you have very little sensitivities and breakouts. You are able to pick from a wider array of product from the shelves of walmart to the snooty La Prairie counters. Everything pretty much fares well with your skin. Even so, i cringe when a woman with beautiful normal skin says "I only use a bar of soap!" Please don't use that! Soap leaves a film behind and can leave your skin looking dull and could help you build up blackheads faster. PLEASE USE SUNSCREEN because you are not immune to ultra violet death rays! Gel, cream, foam or cleansers with lil' scrubbies in them are all suitable for you. Scrubs can be salt, sugar or chemical based and should be used 3-4 x's a week. Toners can be alcohol based or alcohol free. (Note that cosmetic alcohol levels are a very low grade of 20%-30% as opposed to a 70% rubbing alcohol that you may think of when you see the word "ALCOHOL".) Moisturizers should contain a minimum of an SPF 15 and can be cream, gel or water based. You might do better with a day "lotion" in the morning and night "creams" at night.
Combo- your skin gets complicated, you have oily patches, dry patches acne, blackheads or none. you may or may not be allergic to certain products so You will have to just test and play with certain products to see what affects you and what doesn't. I suggest that you use gel based cleansers because they are really clean and just do the simple job of cleansing your skin, normally free of excessive fragrances or dyes. You can also use cleansers with lil scrubblets in them (either in an attached brush form or lil exfoliation beads or grains of salt/sugar already infused in the product. Your toners should preferrably have some alcohol base or witch hazel base because your skin tends to breakout if overwhelmed with makeup and product. Your moisturizers should be light, gel or water based and have titles such as "hydrator" and Oil control. Your makeup or moisturizer should contain an SPF of 15 or higher.
OIly- Finally Oily skin, I know this skin well and we should be using oil control, exfoliating and gel based cleansers. Preferrably with ingredients like tea tree oil, salicylic acid and or witch hazel. Oily skins have a tendency to over use toners or even using rubbing alcohol as a toner!! i've done it myself, yes it feels clean, cool and tingly but it strips your skin so badly of your much needed natural lubricants. When you over strip your skin of natural oils it goes into overdrive and creates more! You may use exfoliators on a daily basis as long as your skin doesn't dry out.. scrubs or cleanser with benzoyl peroxide are sometimes too drying and you might have to cut back to every other day. Use salt or sugar based exfoliators and masks with clay or sulfur bases. Toners can have alcohol or witch hazel bases and mattifying additives to them. If you are nursing a current breakout, it is helpful to apply some sort of blemish treatment gel or cream directly to the blemish with a Q-tip or clean finger before applying your moisturizer. Let it air dry then apply an oil-free, gel based, water based spf 15 lotion, gel creams or serums. Our moisturizers should have labels such as oil control, mattifying and hydrating. Hydrating is a code word for water based moisture rather than synthetic oils like mineral, castor or petrolatum. STAY AWAY FROM THESE!!
If you are experiencing some dry patches from using excessive acne treatments or toners don't be afraid of products with essential oils. Essential oils absorb quickly into the skin and have nothing but benefits. Products with olive oil, almond oil and honey are good choices. Although our skin ages the slowest it is still beneficial to use an anti-aging eye cream or lotion. Anti-agers that I found work really well and show real results are retinoids and hyaluronic acid ( a natural humectant that attracts moisture such as your own body fluids) Use and SPF of 15 or higher, it will feel better to have it already infused in the makeup of moisturizer because adding too much product to our face makes it feel greasy and may cause breakouts.
Everyone of the skin types should always use an SPF of 15 or higher and should always moisturize.
Avoid these ingredients like the plague!
1. Crushed apricot seeds (they have tiny little jagged edges that tear and break skin and cause scarring and broken capillairies. Namely in St. Ives Apricot Scrub or generic knock offs.
2. Synthetic oils such as Mineral oil and petrolatum and the heavy vegatable based oil, Castor oil. They are the main culprits in breakouts, clogged pores and petrolatum has an addictive affect..it will moisturize at first but then your skin is stripped of its natural oils and therefore you use more and more of it. If you have ever used Carmex and noticed that if you stopped using it your lips were unbelievably cracked dry and peeled, its because your body had a dependency on the main ingredient petrolatum.
Ingredients that are amazing!
1. Hyaluronic Acid (best anti-ager I have ever tried. Fusion Beauty's M-tox for the face and eye are chalk full of this ingredient and lines/wrinkles were gone in one hour max! the effect only lasts 24 hrs but is accumulitive when used daily.) The price tag on this product isn't pretty but its worth it. M-tox for the Face is $140 and M-tox for the eye is $84.
2. Essential oils like tea tree, eucalyptus, olive oil and natural ingredients that you can eat. Honey and avocado are my favorite.
3. Willow bark (salicylic acid) natural exfoliator and treatment for acne.
4. Caffeine- it claims to have an "awakening" effect on skin and it did show results for me. Great for puffy tired eyes.
5. Green tea and or White tea- very anti-oxidant and detoxifying. White tea will also repair already damaged skin either from self infliction (picking or popping zits) or from sun damage.
6. Vitamin C is always a good treatment for sun damaged skin and skin with old acne scarring as the natural citric acid will eat away the top layer of damaged dermis (skin) and overtime you will have more even tone and healthy looking skin.
That is it for now but feel free to post questions if you have any and DON'T YOU EVER FALL ALSEEP IN MAKEUP!! You can be stubborn and do it anyway but you will pay the consequences for doing so.. if you aren't already!
1. Cleanse
2. Exfoliation
3. Tone
4. Moisturize
Every person from every skin category can follow these steps, you just have to know what type of skin you fall into. I will list the types of skin and their symptoms:
Dry- excessive flaking, burning and tightness even after using creams, lotions ect. Fine lines tend to show up more prominent and earlier on this skin.
Sensitive- Adverse reactions to most cosmetics, fragrances, dyes and common ingredients found in your general cleanser moisturizer ect. Prone to dermatitis (topical skin irritation) and or acne breakouts
Normal- all the rest of us are jealous of you because you have few issues and usually have zero allergies to anything. You don't have a problem with breakouts and normally don't need makeup to look flawless (grrrrrrrr!) but you still need to take good care of your blessed skin with a solid regime, you can virtually pick from any of the suggested products below to take care of your skin just be consistent with it and DO NOT NEGLECT your Spf!
Combination Skin- Dry and oily areas are present and may have sensitivities to some products or ingredients. You may or may not be prone to breakouts.
Oily- Excessive production of oil especially in the T-zone, skin tends to have a greasy feeling very quickly after washing or application of makeup. Oily skins are usually fans of blotting papers, mattifying makeup and blotting powders. Oily skins also breakout more often as well as have more visible blackheads. The upside to this type of skin is that you age beautifully! Fine lines and wrinkles are hardly visible at all even into the 30's-40's. :)
Everyone falls under at least one of these categories, once you decide which one best suits you then you will have to find a good line of products to use in your new found skin care regime. Here is a suggested list of the types of products for each type of skin:
Dry- Cream cleansers, Foamy frothy cleansers with ingredients such as honey, aloe, jojoba oil, essential oils such as almond, flaxseed, sesame seed oils, Alcohol-free toners (also known as astringents, tonics ect.) Exfoliation (scrubs) should be done no more than 3 times a week unless they are very gentle exfoliators like a lactic acid (milk acid) or scrubs made from oats or grains. Toners should be alcohol free, infused with things like seaweed, algae, olive oil, witch hazel and so on. Finally, moisturizers, these should contain an SPF of 20 or higher and have titles such as Daycream, hydra-moisture and preferrably contain more essential oils than synthetic. Essential oils are oils from a plant, fruit or vegetable. Eye creams should also be used religiously on dry skins as your skin will age faster than anyone else! Don't be shy about getting on the anti-aging train early!
Sensitive- your products should be similar to dry skin's but you may need to go the vegan or organic route due to your skins hyper-sensitivity. The less chemicals listed on the back of your product the better. There is one line that I highly recommend and it is Dr. Weil's line for Origins. He uses mega mushroom that calms inflammation, a condition that will aggravate even the smallest skin allergy and or problem. You need a high level SPF as well, 20 or higher but if you are allergic to actual sunscreen then there is titanium dioxide, a natural sunblock being used widely in alot of mineral makeup and moisturizers. Sensitive skins can do really well with homemade skin products, such as scrubs made with real sugar, honey, plain yogurt, naturally astringent fruits like rasberries, blueberries and grapes. You can make soothing masks out of raw oats, honey, avocados, strawberries, yogurt with spritzes of lemon or orange for toning purposes. I tend to favor Origins because of their selection, they even have a 95% organic line you might want to try but there are hundreds of vegan and organic lines available. You can find alot of them at Vitamins and holistic stores. A good drugstore pick is Cetaphil cleansers, under $10 and as gentle as can be for that price.
Normal- Your skin is relatively easy to care for, you have very little sensitivities and breakouts. You are able to pick from a wider array of product from the shelves of walmart to the snooty La Prairie counters. Everything pretty much fares well with your skin. Even so, i cringe when a woman with beautiful normal skin says "I only use a bar of soap!" Please don't use that! Soap leaves a film behind and can leave your skin looking dull and could help you build up blackheads faster. PLEASE USE SUNSCREEN because you are not immune to ultra violet death rays! Gel, cream, foam or cleansers with lil' scrubbies in them are all suitable for you. Scrubs can be salt, sugar or chemical based and should be used 3-4 x's a week. Toners can be alcohol based or alcohol free. (Note that cosmetic alcohol levels are a very low grade of 20%-30% as opposed to a 70% rubbing alcohol that you may think of when you see the word "ALCOHOL".) Moisturizers should contain a minimum of an SPF 15 and can be cream, gel or water based. You might do better with a day "lotion" in the morning and night "creams" at night.
Combo- your skin gets complicated, you have oily patches, dry patches acne, blackheads or none. you may or may not be allergic to certain products so You will have to just test and play with certain products to see what affects you and what doesn't. I suggest that you use gel based cleansers because they are really clean and just do the simple job of cleansing your skin, normally free of excessive fragrances or dyes. You can also use cleansers with lil scrubblets in them (either in an attached brush form or lil exfoliation beads or grains of salt/sugar already infused in the product. Your toners should preferrably have some alcohol base or witch hazel base because your skin tends to breakout if overwhelmed with makeup and product. Your moisturizers should be light, gel or water based and have titles such as "hydrator" and Oil control. Your makeup or moisturizer should contain an SPF of 15 or higher.
OIly- Finally Oily skin, I know this skin well and we should be using oil control, exfoliating and gel based cleansers. Preferrably with ingredients like tea tree oil, salicylic acid and or witch hazel. Oily skins have a tendency to over use toners or even using rubbing alcohol as a toner!! i've done it myself, yes it feels clean, cool and tingly but it strips your skin so badly of your much needed natural lubricants. When you over strip your skin of natural oils it goes into overdrive and creates more! You may use exfoliators on a daily basis as long as your skin doesn't dry out.. scrubs or cleanser with benzoyl peroxide are sometimes too drying and you might have to cut back to every other day. Use salt or sugar based exfoliators and masks with clay or sulfur bases. Toners can have alcohol or witch hazel bases and mattifying additives to them. If you are nursing a current breakout, it is helpful to apply some sort of blemish treatment gel or cream directly to the blemish with a Q-tip or clean finger before applying your moisturizer. Let it air dry then apply an oil-free, gel based, water based spf 15 lotion, gel creams or serums. Our moisturizers should have labels such as oil control, mattifying and hydrating. Hydrating is a code word for water based moisture rather than synthetic oils like mineral, castor or petrolatum. STAY AWAY FROM THESE!!
If you are experiencing some dry patches from using excessive acne treatments or toners don't be afraid of products with essential oils. Essential oils absorb quickly into the skin and have nothing but benefits. Products with olive oil, almond oil and honey are good choices. Although our skin ages the slowest it is still beneficial to use an anti-aging eye cream or lotion. Anti-agers that I found work really well and show real results are retinoids and hyaluronic acid ( a natural humectant that attracts moisture such as your own body fluids) Use and SPF of 15 or higher, it will feel better to have it already infused in the makeup of moisturizer because adding too much product to our face makes it feel greasy and may cause breakouts.
Everyone of the skin types should always use an SPF of 15 or higher and should always moisturize.
Avoid these ingredients like the plague!
1. Crushed apricot seeds (they have tiny little jagged edges that tear and break skin and cause scarring and broken capillairies. Namely in St. Ives Apricot Scrub or generic knock offs.
2. Synthetic oils such as Mineral oil and petrolatum and the heavy vegatable based oil, Castor oil. They are the main culprits in breakouts, clogged pores and petrolatum has an addictive affect..it will moisturize at first but then your skin is stripped of its natural oils and therefore you use more and more of it. If you have ever used Carmex and noticed that if you stopped using it your lips were unbelievably cracked dry and peeled, its because your body had a dependency on the main ingredient petrolatum.
Ingredients that are amazing!
1. Hyaluronic Acid (best anti-ager I have ever tried. Fusion Beauty's M-tox for the face and eye are chalk full of this ingredient and lines/wrinkles were gone in one hour max! the effect only lasts 24 hrs but is accumulitive when used daily.) The price tag on this product isn't pretty but its worth it. M-tox for the Face is $140 and M-tox for the eye is $84.
2. Essential oils like tea tree, eucalyptus, olive oil and natural ingredients that you can eat. Honey and avocado are my favorite.
3. Willow bark (salicylic acid) natural exfoliator and treatment for acne.
4. Caffeine- it claims to have an "awakening" effect on skin and it did show results for me. Great for puffy tired eyes.
5. Green tea and or White tea- very anti-oxidant and detoxifying. White tea will also repair already damaged skin either from self infliction (picking or popping zits) or from sun damage.
6. Vitamin C is always a good treatment for sun damaged skin and skin with old acne scarring as the natural citric acid will eat away the top layer of damaged dermis (skin) and overtime you will have more even tone and healthy looking skin.
That is it for now but feel free to post questions if you have any and DON'T YOU EVER FALL ALSEEP IN MAKEUP!! You can be stubborn and do it anyway but you will pay the consequences for doing so.. if you aren't already!
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