Skin at Its Best
Aug 16 '03 (Updated Jan 25 '04)
The Bottom Line How to take care of your skin with cleansers, toners, moisturizers, makeup and sunscreen.
Good skin starts with good care. If you want to have a great complexion by the time you're a 100 years old... or maybe a little younger than that... follow this guide and get the skin you’ve always wanted!
Cleansing-
How simple, but what to choose! Ask yourself what type of skin you have.
NORMAL- Normal skin is never to oily (Oil can often be detected by shine anywhere on the surface of your skin. It feels like grease.) and doesn't dry out and peel... Although it may change with weather. Ex: Winter. Less moisture in the air equals drier skin.
OILY- As described below, oily skin gets really shiny if you don't wear mattifier (oil-absorbing lotion, cream, etc.) or certain makeup. If you have oily skin, you may tend to break out a little. The oil glands in your type of skin tend to over-produce sebum (oil), so your skin is never really dry.
COMBINATION- This skin type is very common. It can be very greasy in some areas and super dry in others, or can be greasy and dry all over.
Now that you know what type of skin you have, what type of cleanser do you want?
Acne-fighting, moisturizing, age-defying, for sensitive-skin or just plain.
Acne-Fighting: This one can be drying to all skin types. The active ingredients kill bacteria and unclog your pores, which are the two things you want to get rid of any annoying blemishes. L'oréal Pure Zone Unclogging Pore Scrub is so cooling. And it's not as drying as others.
Moisturizing: I love this kind. It cleanses and adds moisture to your face. It often soothes a lot. Just be careful to choose one that is oil free if you tend to break out with greasy substances. Try Pond's Cold Cream. It's so creamy and warms you up- literally.
Age-Defying: This type often contains ingredients that can be too strong for sensitive skin. They supposedly help get rid of wrinkles and fine lines... and any other thing that the company says it will do. Tip: If you are looking for something to get rid of your smile lines, try a cleanser containing Vitamin C. I love Totally Juicy Raspberry Pore Cleanser. (The almost hypnotizing scent is a bonus.)
For Sensitive Skin: These ones are very gentle. Don't count on them to get rid of all your waterproof makeup, though. I guarantee you that Olay Daily Facials for Sensitive Skin will not irritate skin. They do take off most makeup!
Plain: Most companies have plain cleansers. These are unpredictable. They can leave your skin feeling soft and beautiful, or totally steal the moisture out of them. Try Dove One Quarter Moisturizer Beauty Bar. This one makes you feel clean and refreshes. No breakouts, no dryness.
Now just find one that suits you.
Try these great products I found to suit your skin!
Normal Skin, Type of Cleanser: Plain -
Toning:
Toners and astringents are intended for people who love that extra clean feeling or their skin needs more. They are to be used after cleansing and any time during the day to clean up your skin and get rid of oil, dirt and makeup. I love them because you don’t need to rinse them off after. Just soak ‘em up with a cotton pad or ball and smooth onto your face in an upward motion. This will help the product enter your pores better.
Extra dry skin? Try moistening a cotton pad with Nivea Alcohol-Free Moisturizing Toner for refreshing moisture that’ll help skin from peeling.
Acne Treatments: Any astringent with salicylic acid in it will do. Try Neutrogena Oil-Absorbing Astringent.
Normal skin can use almost any type. If the product is too much for your skin, use it less often or change toners. Your skin may just be allergic or too sensitive to that type.
Whatever the kind you need, you can find at the drugstore at a cheap price.
Moisturizing-
EVERYONE (including you) needs moisturizer. Moisturizer simply adds water to your skin.
Oily Skin - should look for one that is oil-free. Unless you want to add more grease onto your face. If your lucky, you may run into one that sucks up oil, a.k.a.: A mattifying kind. Tip: Try smoothing on a separate mattifier under your moisturizer. Try Neutrogena Pore Refining Mattifier. The consistency is just right and doesn’t dry out skin.
Acne Prone Skin - Try one that contains acne fighting medicine, like salicylic acid in it, like Clean and Clear Acne Fighting Moisturizer. This light lotion moisturizes while fighting off those nasty pimples. Tip: If you use pimple-fighting cream, put it on before your moisturizer. Moisturizer forms a barrier, making it harder for the medicine to enter pores if you slather it on after.
Age-Defying – We’ve all seen the commercial for these miracle creams than are supposed to magically transform your face into wrinkle and fine-line free skin. I say the only solution to that is cosmetic surgery, and even then… If your looking for something to help reduce the appearance of your flaws for a few days or so, choose a product containing vitamins A, C, and E. These anti-oxidants and protecting ingredients help make your lines appear less visible. Keep in mind that these products don’t leave a permanent result.
Dry Skin – Dry skin is very, very annoying. And embarrassing! When your always peeling chunks of skin, it’s not very nice to see. That’s why companies have come up with these moisturizers that almost instantly erase the rough patches of flaky dead skin cells. My favorite: Cetaphil Fragrance Free Moisturizing Lotion. This stuff is packed with panthenol, vitamin E and macadamia nut oil. Prescribed by my dermatologist for me when I was on a acne treatment that sucked the moisture right out of my skin, I know this stuff doesn’t cause pimples even though it contains oil. (Oil clogs pores.) It’s the only stuff that kept my face from peeling off during those day… and believe me, I tried about 20 different kinds.
Combination Skin – If you are oily in some places and dry in others, just smooth moisturizer over the places where you are dry. But if you are oily and dry everywhere, slather on tones of moisturizer (like Cetaphil Fragrance Free Moisturizing Lotion), wait a few minutes, and then blot your face with an oil-absorbing sheet: Clean and Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets is cheap and works. You’ll get moisture at the same time as you blot off grease… which is good.
For Sensitive Skin - Do you have skin that turns tomato red and starts burning a few seconds after you apply a drop of cream on your face? If so, you my dear, have sensitive skin. I suggest you try a gel-cream. These cooling moisturizers soothe like nothing and feel like a splash of cool water. I love L’oréal Hydrafresh Super Fresh Moisturizer, and it comes in 2 formulas: for dry or oily skin. You’ll be as addicted as I am to them one you slather on that drop and your skin stays it’s natural color. Still in pain? Try putting your moisturizer in the fridge so it will calm down any inflammation on contact.
TIP: Try using moisturizer with the most sun protection possible, although sensitive skin should stick to SPF 15 for no irritation. On acne treatments of any type of medication? Medication and treatments can increase your skin’s sensitivity to the suns rays, so wear lots. My Pick: Banana Boat Vita Skin Advanced Sun Protection for Faces SPF 30 (also use the one for the body, which contains SPF 50). These cheap lotions can mean the difference between skin cancer and healthy skin (not to mention living your whole life).
When Playing With MAKEUP !!!
Here are a few tips to keep your makeup from fading and advice on how to finish looks.
Face:
If you wear foundation, only use a bit of moisturizer so your base will stay on longer. At noon or so, touch up you face with a little cream to powder foundation. This type is like putting on foundation and setting it in one step! If you’re face dries out too much while using powder, try Anna Sui Blotting Paper to degrease. Oil plays a huge part in what makes your foundation fade. If you still find your makeup to fade, you can always invest into one of those miracle primers which are made by more expensive brands of makeup. They create a base for your makeup to hold onto.
Get the perfect matte: Do you like a subtle glow but hate the effects of shiny and cakey foundations? Try using a sheer foundation and then setting it with a very light dusting of loose powder (using a face brush, read: not a blush brush). The loose powder sets the makeup put doesn’t cover up your face as much as the pressed kind.
If you love the dewy look, make sure your face is clean and moisturized with a light lotion before you apply L’oréal Translucide Naturally Luminous Makeup. This cheap stuff works well and doesn’t make you look like a grease ball.
Are you always complaining about how your tinted moisturizer never stays put? You can stop the wining now. Just touch up with pressed powder during the day. A light hand will give a natural look and won’t cake it all on if that’s what your afraid of. If you prefer not to add on any color, try blotting paper. Gently pat it onto places where you would normally tend to get oily. Repeat the process a couple of times during the day.
Eyes:
Prevent eye irritation by not putting on mascara and eyeliner every day. Make sure your eyeliner is sharpened often enough to prevent bacteria build-up. Change your mascara very 6 months or if you notice color change or odor. This is very important. You don’t want to end up with an infection, now do you? Also, don’t share mascara and eyeliner. You could catch diseases such as pink eye and other harmful ones.
Love cream eye shadow? Make it stay by gently patting a same shade of the powder kind AFTER you apply your favorite creamy color. If you apply power before cream, you’ll end up with a slippy and creasing mess.
Smokey eyes: Ever wonder why that stripe of black eye liner looks so harsh? The trick to a smokey eye- mess it up a little. Never make the color exact. Smudging your liner makes it look like your not trying too hard. Besides, smoke doesn’t flow in a straight line anyway.
Brows: Sadly, a lot of people tend to overpluck and totally mess up their whole look. The thing is, your eyebrows change the whole picture. You WILL look different with string-thin lines above your eyes. If you have already overplucked, fill your brows in with a pencil or powder the same as your brow color. An eyeshadow or a formula made for that area will do. Then, wait till they grow back. Some may grow back very fine (make them appear thicker with a bit of mascara that is waterproof), but chances are they'll grow back perfectly. For precise plucking, only pull out the hairs that are not part of your natural shape... meaning the ones that give you a unibrow, the ones that grow above the majority, the ones that grow a bit above the eyelid, and all the other ones that float on the skin and don't have any business there. Your brows should be alined with the inner corners of your eyes and stretch a little bit beyond the outer corners of your lid. The arch should be about three quarters of the way out. Tip- So you are sure not to overtweeze, step back from the mirror every time you pluck. One lost brow may make a big difference. Cut long eyebrows to a normal length with baby nail scissors and keep them in place with a dab of petroleum jelly or brow gel.
Lips:
Red lips: Perfecting the finishing touch. Red lips are very sophisticated and nice. My suggestions: skip the lip liner and soften the color instead by smoothing the edge of your lips with a Q-tip (after putting on the lipstick, that is). Oh, and keep the rest of your makeup soft. Pale pink blush, a little eye shadow and mascara are all you need.
The truth: Behind those commercials of lipstick that lasts eight hours is something they don’t tell you. You can't just apply the stuff and forget about it. These two-step marvels don’t need color touch ups, but they do need clear top-coat touch ups. They tell you to reapply the top coat throughout the day, but don't tell you that the color coat will dry out your lips if you don't. The clear top coat makes sure that the lipstick doesn’t make your lips feel dry. It doesn’t set the color. You have to carry that tube around all day. Try Cover Girl Outlast. They have a great choice of shades. The downside: no colour testers.
Get the right color. If you bought this super expensive lip color and just found out it really isn’t the shade it appears to be, your natural lip color might be the problem. Dab on an even layer of foundation or concealer onto your lips for a softer colored base for the product. This may (or may not) make you one satisfied makeup junkie.
Cheeks:
You want to give your cheeks a wash of color, not a perfectly round circle of rouge!
If you have got the best blush brush, the finest powder blush in the sheerest shade, but you are still messing up, you may need to prime your skin with powder. Powder smoothes out the texture of your skin, giving your blush an evenly smooth surface to settle.
Gel Blush: Go light! This stuff is like a stain, so if you mess up or leave a blob in one spot for too long, you’ll leave a mark! Correct the mark by washing your face with your usual cleanser, and next time, be careful. Oh, and a little bit goes a long way.
Cream: My favorite. You can’t mess up, it’s so sheer! Blend the stuff with a sponge after you dab it on with your fingertips or from the tube. Oily skin should stay away from this kind. It’ll slide off midday.
SUNSCREEN !
Skin cancer is the most preventable of all cancers. So no excuses when it comes to masking yourself with lotion. I have a solution to all your problems for not wearing some so you can’t have a reason for not wearing protection anymore.
Problem: “It’s greasy.”
Solution: Companies have invented oil-free kinds, which means, no greasy feeling. Try Coppertone’s Waterproof and Oil-Free Sunblock Lotion SPF 30 for your body and Faces Hydrating UVA/UVB Oil-Free Sunblock SPF 30 (also by Coppertone).
Problem: “I can’t reach my back and other places.”
Solution: Companies have come up with spray-on sunscreen. These bottles spray protecting liquid onto your skin evenly and lightly. Try Clinique Body Spray SPF 30 Sun Block (also comes in SPF 15).
Problem: “They stink!”
Solution: Use one that is fragrance-free! Try Eucerin Sun Defense SPF 15 Lotion. Need more protection? Try L’oréal Extreme Ombrelle Sunscreen Lotion SPF 40.
Problem: “I don’t spend my days outside anyway.”
Solution: Unless you live in a 5-feet underground home, you need sunscreen. Sun rays go straight through windows and other material. Try using moisturizer with sunscreen in it. They’re everywhere these days. An for your body, use a light cream, gel or lotion that won’t make you feel ridiculous, like Coppertone Gel Sunblock SPF 15. It’s light, greaseless and cooling!
Problem: “My sensitive skin totally starts stinging when I use sunblock.”
Solution: Stick to one with SPF 15. The less chemicals, the less your skin will react. Smooth Clinique City Block Sheer Oil-Free Daily Face Protector SPF onto your skin as gently as possible. As for your body, try Hawaiian Tropic Sunblock with SPF 15 Plus Lotion.
Problem: “My acne needs the sun to heal faster.”
Solution: …Prolonged exposure to the sun without sunscreen is bad for your skin, especially your pimples. See, dry skin and oil are what clog your pores. Since the sun dries your skin out, it will cause it to produce oil. Oil + Dry Skin = Comedon (clogging) = Pimple. Whatever sunscreen you use, stick to an oil-free one.
Problem: “My makeup fades if I put on sunscreen.”
Solution: After you put on all your makeup, mist your face very lightly with Clinique Body Spray SPF 30 Sunblock (with your eyes shut). Even better, find makeup with SPF in it. Some eye shadows, foundations, lipsticks, and other products now provide the protection you need.
Problem: “I want to get a tan!”
Solution: Salons and companies have invented tones of new ways to get bronzed up without giving your skin a bath of unhealthy sun rays. For about 25$, you can go to a salon, get into this booth where they spray on a very nice tan. Voilà! You can also do it at home with tanning lotions, sprays, gels and creams. Whatever you choose to do, you’ll love the outcome as much as a natural tan (which is actually a burn, which has now caused your skin super damage). I guarantee you. These days you can also buy a lotion or oil that will instantly color your skin. They don’t rub off, but you can wash it off at night. Try Dr.Brandt Skincare Bronze Barrier Face SPF 30, and show off your instantaneous tan. For the body: MD Formulations Total Protector Color 30 comes in 3 shades (at Sephora).
Problem: “Whatever I use, I always burn!”
Solution: You are probably using SPF 30 or 40. Try doubling that. Go for SPF 70. The highest protection I found: Hawaiian Tropic The Ultimate SPF 70. Make sure this stuff goes nowhere near your eyes. It will irritate it. SPF 15 is good for eyes. Wearing protective sunglasses also helps.
Whatever you do to your skin, make sure you are gentle with it. Don't pick at pimples, and always wear sunscreen. Hope you liked my review!
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