Leave it to me to bring up this sometimes embarrassing topic. We all have our secrets about our skin and try to hide them instead of fixing the problem. My entire life I've been told that I have beautiful skin. Even when I was a kid, adults would stop little me in Safeway and tell me that my skin was so pretty. At most I was 9 years old. I always thanked them and went on. I had always assumed that they were talking about my tan. (I'm the extra tan one on the far left with the big cheesy grin and white socks). I have Cherokee from my dads side of the family. During the winter you would think that I was never in the sun but come summer time I turn into a beautifully bronzed Brazilian. My flat backside is the dead giveaway that I've never even been south of the equator. Before you begin to tell me how bad it is, I know. I wear sunscreen and hats and sit in the shade and all of the protective measures to ensure I don't turn into leather. My skin just absorbs and I don't hate it. As I've gotten older I've never really had an issue with acne. I praise my good genes! One thing I did struggle with over the years is my sensitive and sometimes dry skin. Growing up in Colorado I couldn't keep enough lotion on me. Literally 5 minutes after putting lotion on my skin would be dry and itchy again. After countless trips to the dermatologist I finally found a skin cream that worked for me. Cetaphil is my saving grace! I can use it everywhere on my body and it doesn't feel sticky or greasy and most important feeds my skin's thirst for moisture. (SIDE NOTE: Cetaphil also has a really great facial moisturizer with SPF).
As I got older and moved to Oklahoma I started to notice how things would irritate my skin and how in the winter I would get these red dry patches of skin that itched like crazy! So after another round of trips to my dermatologist we discovered that I have psoriasis. I know it sounds icky and when inflamed can look like poison ivy which I used to be super self conscious about. Different things can set it off. I can't use any types of scented body washes or lotions like Bath & Body Works. Plus most of that has added dyes and glitter that really irritates it. I can use DOVE bar and liquid soap and it actually moisturizes my skin like a pre lotion before I get out of the shower and then put on my regular cetaphil. My face is also pretty sensitive when it comes to cleansers. Since I've never had acne I was never concerned with my skin. I would sleep in makeup, wake up and add more then head to school. So once I learned that you really need to take care of your skin, especially on your face I decided to do some research and find something that would be easy. I spent about 2 hours at Sephora talking with consultants about my skin and listening to what they recommend. They sent me home with about 10 different brands and kinds of cleansers and moisturizers. Over the next 20 days I cleaned and moisturized every other day to see how it affected my skin the day of and the day after. Every morning I woke up with tight, dry/greasy, red skin. None of them worked. I was a little discouraged and decided to just head up to target to get makeup remover wipes and that would be my way of cleaning my face. A couple years later that's still my go to, except now I've changed it to sensitive pampers baby wipes. Yes, baby wipes. I use it to take off my makeup and remove daily dirt before I go to bed. It's simple and gets the job done. I know that this might not work for everyone but it works for me and I love it.
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Over the weekend I decided to try out some makeup ideas for Halloween and afterwards felt like my face was still covered in grease paint. I found the original deer makeup picture on Pinterest then followed the link to the blog where the other pictures and video tutorial can be found. I watched it about 3 times and headed up to target to get some things I didn't have. I didn't use MAC products, I just found comparable things that I figured would work and they were perfect. I only spent a total of $30. Here is a link to Shannon's blog: Cheap Frills and Thrills. So Saturday I invited my cousin over for a spa day. Well, a spa moment really. She has been telling me about these new cleansers and mask that she bought from ORIGINS so I thought I would give it a try. I only used the mask but I really liked it. I opened my pores with a quick face massage done with a warm wet towel. Then I massaged a thin layer of the charcoal and clay mask onto my skin and let it sit for about 15 minutes. As it dried I felt like I had just gotten Botox. My face was tight but it was a good feeling. When I took that mask off with a hot wet towel my face felt so amazing and really clean. After about a hour my face got a little red and puffy which I have come to expect when I use product like this. My skin still feels really great so I'm considering buying some myself and using it once or twice a month.
xo, Erica
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